The Soldier of the Red Mansion

Chapter 164 Who will win?
The annual patrol system of the Zhou Dynasty for the familiar tribes was mainly to understand the population, cattle, sheep, horses, etc. of the familiar tribes. These numbers that were seen with one's own eyes could be used to judge whether there was a risk of getting out of control.

Zhai Wen and his subordinates have been busy with this matter these days.

Wang Xin and his army were on high alert, and both sides were at peace. If this expedition to the border had not been full of unexpected events, it would not have been as serious as it was in previous years.

After learning about what Zhai Wen had done and becoming familiar with the patrol system of the Great Zhou, Wang Xin couldn't help but sigh at the sophistication of the former Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty banned maritime trade, but it did not mean to cut off all trade. Instead, it wanted to control trade in the hands of the imperial court. Through tribute trade, it not only strengthened the position of the Ming Dynasty as the suzerain state, but also took advantage of the border areas.

And not only maritime trade, but also border trade on land is prohibited.

For example, during the border trade in the Song Dynasty, two hundred kilograms of tea could be exchanged for a horse.

During the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang monopolized the tea-horse trade and strictly prohibited private trade among the people. He once sent Li Jinglong to be in charge of the tea-horse trade. He exchanged 500,000 kilograms of tea for 13,518 horses. In other words, one horse could only be exchanged for 37 kilograms of tea.

With the monopoly, the right to speak naturally rested with the Ming Dynasty. Over the past two hundred years, this policy not only did not decline, but because of the interests involved, merchants became more rampant, and horses became worthless at the border.

The Great Zhou inherited the tea-horse trade of the former Ming Dynasty, which not only involved commercial exploitation, but also, as Zhai Wen said, Feng Yong's request that the Dabansheng area provide 200 war horses to the Datong military town every year was tacitly approved by the court.

This figure fully takes into account the capabilities of the Hetao region.

In the original time and space, due to the longer reproduction period, the population of the Hetao region was as high as 120,000. Now, due to the sweep in the early days of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the population of the Hetao region has only recovered to tens of thousands, not even half of the original number.

If there are no problems in Datong area, Hetao will never be able to escape from the control of the Great Zhou.

With a whole set of measures in place, including trade, economy, and patrols, every aspect was strictly restricted. Who says the ancients didn't have smart people? This system, designed and implemented, is truly eye-opening.

But the same thing goes, everything needs to be strong in itself. If you are not strong, all plans will become pale and powerless.

Therefore, Wang Xin led his army without any relaxation and kept a close eye on the Dabansheng area.

“No big problem.”

Zhai Wen came back a few days later and told Wang Xin with a heavy face.

Although it is impossible to count the population, horses, cattle and sheep of each tribe in detail, we can still get a rough idea. If that doesn't work, we can also look at the grassland. The grassland has extremely poor bearing capacity. If there are too many livestock, it will become desertified within two or three years.

Therefore, if a tribe has too many cattle and sheep, it must expand its nomadic range, which will lead to the invasion of other people's territory and thus trigger war.

All in all, everything seems to be fine.

Wang Xin also saw some things. The tribes in the Dabansheng area were not as well equipped as the Shanyu tribe. The Shanyu tribe actually had armor, which was a great treasure for the Hetao area. Where it came from, Wang Xin didn't know.

"If there is no problem in the Dabansheng area, the problem may be inside the customs." Wang Xin said frankly, intending to see this person's next attitude.

Zhai Wen frowned, looking distressed.

The main thing is that Wang Xin has a witness who can testify that their leader was appointed by Feng Yong. Zhai Wen did not want to get involved in the conflict between Wang Xin and Feng Yong, but he was unlucky and had witnessed it firsthand.

If Wang Xin chose to make a big deal out of this, the court would definitely question him.

He either agreed with Wang Xin or disagreed with Wang Xin's statement. Zhai Wen asked in return, "What are you going to do, General?"

Zhai Wen asked this because he actually didn't want to get involved. Forcing him to express his opinion might cause a counterproductive effect. The main reason was that the evidence in his hand was not strong enough, and it would be difficult to bring down Feng Yong with it.

Whether Feng Yong can be overthrown not only involves the local authorities, but also the court. The final decision will be made by the court.

Can I defeat Feng Yong?

Wang Ziteng and Jia She. People on this side of the fence, seeing that the emperor's power was growing in the past few years, Wang Ziteng took the lead and reached an agreement with the emperor to give up the Beijing camp, completely offending the emperor.

If it weren't for this variable, Wang Ziteng would have died of depression within two years.

Jia Zhen took the route of a nobleman, but noblemen have little power nowadays. What's more, Jia Zhen is a waste who only knows how to have fun. You must be crazy to rely on Jia Zhen.

Jia Zheng's attitude is fine, but his ability is not.

Lin Ruhai is the only one with attitude and ability, but he is not in the capital, so he can't make much noise and can't provide direct help to himself.

At the beginning of last year, when the imperial concubine visited her parents in the Grand View Garden, it was the most glorious moment for this generation.

As a result, just one year later, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, and now no one who can speak out in the court can do anything.

No wonder one allie after another wants to break away from them, including Mei Hanlin. Mei Hanlin also relied on the help of the Xue family in his early years, as well as his own talents, to have his current status. He can be regarded as a true old friend. In the future, he will alienate himself from the four major families and even break off the engagement between his son and Xue Baoqin.

Relying on the connections behind him was very helpful last year, but it may not work this year. Therefore, relying solely on the one witness in his hand may not necessarily bring down Fatty Feng. It is more likely that Fatty Feng will accuse him of defamation.

"Damn, it's a big deal if we have connections."

Wang Xin couldn't help but sigh, and didn't force Zhai Wen to express his opinion. Zhai Wen didn't lie to him, which was considered his sincerity.

Hearing Wang Xin's curse, Zhai Wen looked at Wang Xin speechlessly.

Ever since the nobles were suppressed, guerrilla generals in their twenties have become rare in the Great Zhou. He relied on his connections to get to where he is today, so how can he have the nerve to complain about them now?
How big a relationship does one have to have to be satisfied? Zhai Wen was a little envious. If he had connections, he would not have stayed in this hellhole of Datong for several years.

"What are you going to do?" Zhai Wen asked again.

The name has changed, the tone has changed, and although it is still the same sentence, the meaning has changed.

"Cold salad." Wang Xin said with a smile: "Let's see what happens."

Zhai Wen said with concern, "I'm afraid Fatty Feng won't give up easily."

"It must be. I've already seen that Zhao Tao was sent by Fatty Feng to test me." Wang Xin himself admired Fatty Feng's scheming, and said in a complicated tone: "If I had agreed to Fatty Feng's conditions, nothing would have happened later." Zhai Wen agreed with Wang Xin's words.

There were some shadows of previous events. At the same time, Zhai Wen had heard that Fatty Feng excluded dissidents, but it was just hearsay and more or less just some speculation. Now that he had experienced it personally, he could see it clearly.

Thinking of this, Zhai Wen reminded him, "Fatty Feng must have a backup plan."

"I'm waiting." Wang Xin said softly.

What are you waiting for?
Zhai Wen understood and nodded, "I won't go with you."

Wang Xin jokingly asked, "So you have no confidence in me?"

"A gentleman doesn't stand on a dangerous wall." Zhai Wen said with confidence. Even so, he knew he wasn't being loyal enough, so he added, "If Fatty Feng really wants to do this, and you can return to the customs smoothly, I will speak up for you."

"Okay." Wang Xin held out his hand. "A gentleman's word is his bond."

"It's hard to chase a horse!"

Zhai Wen extended his hand and the two shook hands to make an agreement.

If Fatty Feng couldn't defeat the young general in his two attempts, then what else could he say? It meant Fatty Feng couldn't do anything to the other party, so of course he would help whoever won.

The next day, an official came from Datong. He was also the chief clerk, but he was not Zhao Tao.

"Where's Zhao Tao?"

"Is Zhao Zhubu not here?" the visitor was shocked.

Wang Xin didn't know whether this person was pretending or not. After hearing the secret order brought by this person, his face was full of mixed emotions. Fatty Feng was thinking that he was a fool.

But it was also luck, Fatty Feng didn't know his own situation.

If Ning Longxiong had not recklessly charged into his army, or if he had not been unlucky enough to be killed by the Portuguese, even if he had failed and retreated with his remaining troops, his subordinates would not have been torn apart, and he might still be in the dark.

At least it is impossible to determine who instructed Ning Longxiong to do this. At least in front of him, it is not so easy for Dabansheng to clear his suspicion.

It’s more about strength. If you win the battle, even if you are wrong, you are right. If you lose the battle, even if you are right, you are wrong. The principles of the world are sometimes very simple.

Wang Xin did not expose the truth and deliberately said, "I am not strong enough to defeat Mo Bisheng. Now that Zhai the Defense Envoy's mission is complete, we must return."

The man was very anxious. "How could the general be so cowardly as to miss the opportunity to fight? The reinforcements are on the way and will arrive in three days."

The man continued to offer advice: "The day after tomorrow, General, invite Mo Bisheng. When he arrives, we can capture him by surprise. General, you don't know that the Hu people will collapse if they lose their leader. This will work every time."

"Let me think about it." Wang Xin looked embarrassed.

The man knew that too much is as bad as too little, and there was still one day left tomorrow.

After the man left, Zhai Wen came out from behind the screen. Seeing Wang Xin's smile, he said unhappily, "You can still laugh."

Wang Xin put away his smile and said in a deep voice, "It seems that Fatty Feng's real killer weapon lies in this support army."

"He will first make sure that both of you suffer losses. No matter who wins or loses, it will be good for him. With such a scheming mind, it seems that he is determined to destroy you. The real target of this reinforcement army is you." Zhai Wen said with admiration. Not only did he eliminate Wang Xin, but he could also report his military achievements to the court, killing two birds with one stone.

At this point, Zhai Wen hesitated, "Where will Fatty Feng's reinforcements come from? He can't just send troops out of the pass with such fanfare. Besides, if he blatantly attacks you, he must be one of his retainers."

With tens of thousands of Datong troops, there will be no problem for them to go out and attack Hu's army at the command of Fatty Feng.

But if you want to attack the imperial army, that would be a different matter.

With Fatty Feng's many years of operation in Datong, he must have an army willing to fight for him, but the number is limited. Logically speaking, it may not be able to swallow up Wang Xin's troops.

Unless, Zhai Wen speculated, "He controls other troops, like Ning Longxiong's team."

"It's probably the Chanyu tribe."

Wang Xin said lightly.

This makes sense. The Shanyu tribe actually had armor. Because of the armor, although the Shanyu tribe had fewer cavalry than the alliance in the Dabansheng area, they were able to compete with them. Think about it again, wasn't it only with the support of Fatty Feng that the Shanyu tribe was able to gain a foothold in the Hetao area?

"Are you confident? If not, then it's impossible." Zhai Wen found it difficult to say it.

Seeking help from the Dadabansheng area and exposing the internal conflicts of the Zhou army will cause huge troubles.

As for taking a detour to avoid the situation, Wang Xin's troops were mainly composed of chariot camps, and most of them were infantry. Their speed was slow on the grassland, so there was little hope.

Although Zhai Wen didn't say the rest of the sentence, Wang Xin understood what Zhai Wen meant. He didn't want to do that either, so he didn't plan to ask Da Bansheng for help. He smiled and said, "I've never lost before, so let's give it a try."

When Zhai Wen heard this, his expression became complicated. If he could win like this, he would have to change his attitude towards this person.

I obviously shouldn't believe it, but this person's attitude is really confident.

Do you want to go with him?

Forget it, let's wait for the results. Anyway, I have done my best for him. He has helped me with so many suggestions. The favor is enough.

Could it be that this person still has the aura of a king or tyrant as described in the vernacular novels? If not, why should I bow down to him? I am a civil servant and should have the character of a civil servant.

(End of this chapter)